Laptop stands
Working on a laptop can take a toll on your body. A laptop stand raises your laptop's display to eye level for a more comfortable and ergonomically correct setup. For prolonged desktop use of your laptop, a stand is a must-have. Some even include extra USB ports for keyboards, mice, or other external attachments.

For around $100, the APC Ergonomic Notebook Stand with USB 2.0 Hub offers four extra USB ports and can save you from neck pain, to boot. The 2.4-pound stand is on the heavier side, and it's less portable than some units we've seen--instead of fitting in your laptop bag, it needs its own luggage case. But its USB ports, ease of use, and mobility while on your desktop make it worth the price. The APC comes with a short setup guide, but basically, you just plug it into a wall socket and run the provided USB cable from the stand to your laptop's USB port. With two ports in the back and one on each side of the stand, you can plug in external keyboards and mice, leaving your laptop's USB ports open for other input devices, such as Webcams, printers, and myriad other accessories. The stand is on three little rollers, making it easy to move around on a desktop, but the downside is that adjusts to only three different height levels.

The elegant LapVantage Dome PowerBook Laptop Stand has an Apple-esque appearance. At 3.7 pounds, it's not as portable as other stands we've looked at, but it's by far the sturdiest. With a price tag of nearly $80, it's also pretty expensive, in light of its limited features and portability. Despite its name, the PowerBook laptop stand works with any laptop--not only Apple systems. The stand requires no setup, and adjusting its height takes only the turn of a knob. If you choose, you can attach the included "bump-ons", dime-size plastic domes that stick to the surface of the stand, to slightly elevate your laptop for improved air circulation and cooling. The LapVantage Dome holds up to 75 pounds--enough to support any laptop we could find (or a small child). The stand doesn't tilt, but you can raise and lower it so that the base is anywhere from 4.75 to 6.5 inches above the desk's surface. Additionally, the base rotates 360 degrees and fits up to 15-inch wide laptops.

Lightweight, collapsible, highly adjustable, and affordable, the $54 Atdec Slimdec Traveler is a portable notebook stand you can take on the road. It weighs only 1.3 pounds and will easily fit into your laptop bag. It also comes with its own protective travel pouch. The Slimdec has four height levels, and you can raise or lower the front legs of the stand for further customization. Although the stand was stable when we tested it with an 8-pound laptop, the manufacturers recommend that it be used only with laptops weighing 6.6 pounds or less. The Slimdec features rubber pads that grip the computer and add stability to the workstation, as well as a base with a ventilation hole to allow for cooling.

Best suited for laptops smaller than 15 inches wide, the $23 VuRyte LapRyser is an inexpensive way to make over your laptop for comfortable desktop use. The LapRyser comes as a kit and takes about five minutes to assemble, but the stand's legs come in eight, 1-inch segments, which are clumsy to set up and make adjusting the stand difficult. Rubber plugs cover the bottom of the plastic legs to avoid scratching the desk surface. The back of this sturdy stand features six cable-management holes to route cords and help avoid tangles, and the base has large ventilation holes on its surface to allow air movement for cooling. The included document holder can be attached to the stand, but laptops wider than 15 inches cover the holes where it's attached.